ECPR Teaches Humane Education w/ Bush School Students

Even though ECPR is still very young as a rescue, we are so excited for the new programs we have launched and we are thrilled that we have many unique opportunities to connect with the community around us. The Seattle community is wonderful; kind, eager, and willing to get together to help us save more lives!One of our beloved staff members, our Education and Outreach Specialist, has had wonderful opportunities to put together many unique outreach programs that include everything from cuddle-visits with our dogs to senior centers and community centers, to teaching very young children safe ways to approach and pet dogs, and even putting together comprehensive Humane Education programs for interested High School Students. We are willing and able to work with people of all ages who are interested in learning about rescue, meeting rescue pets, and more.

We recently completed our second year of working with students at the Bush School. We met with them once a week for several weeks and had the opportunity to challenge their minds, and gave them opportunities to challenge ours! (And boy, they sure did! SO many thought-provoking questions and observations!)

For the first handful of weeks, we traveled to their school and did some work in their classrooms. We began by giving them a brief history of our specific rescue and how we operate. We discussed where our rescue pets come from, what our adoption process is, and all of the different departments and responsibilities that it takes to successfully rescue, rehabilitate, and rehome these animals safely and with the best care possible.We then moved on to animal interactions, discussing not only general safe handling of animals, but also the types of training methods we use to work with and rehabilitate animals who have behavioral challenges due to many reasons including but not limited to; undersocialization, abuse, neglect, home-instability (being moved around from home to home and/or shelter to shelter). We also discussed some of our pets with specific medical needs and how our in-house clinic helps heal
We expanded beyond the world of our specific rescue into general animal welfare topics, and we had them split into groups and research and present information on topics such as animal exploitation, the meat trade, puppy mills, and more.

We then moved into the aspect of humane education that expands to human-to-human interactions, how, through animals, we learn compassion, empathy, and how we relate and communicate with both animals and each other with more than just words.

We want to give the Bush Students a huge THANK YOU as well, they organized a fundraiser for ECPR, and created amazing informative flyers to give to students, teachers, parents, and the community. They really went above and beyond to spread the word and we are so thankful for their creativity and dedication!

We then spent a handful of weeks bringing them into our rescue facilities. We began at our adoption center in Sodo. We introduced them to some of our rescue dogs and taught them some of our training methods. Our rescue coordinators were able to talk to them about adoptions, and our accounting department was even able to talk to them about some of the technical aspects of running a rescue! We then brought them to our cat adoption facility in West Seattle and they were able to learn about our unique adoption process for our kitties, and lastly, we brought them to our clinic. They were able to learn about all of the medical care we provide for our pets, tour the clinic, and talk with one of our amazing vet techs about the various jobs those in the clinic do, the procedures we perform, and how the clinic helps pets in need.

The students also had the opportunity to join us on one of our general outreach days. They went with a few of our staff members and some of our dogs; rescue dogs and ECPR ambassadors, to Hilltop House (a senior center) and were able to see firsthand the joy of our dogs spreading love throughout the community and what a positive impact that has on people. It was a wonderful experience for everyone!

We were so grateful that we had an opportunity to interact with youth interested in the world of animal care and animal rescue, they learned a lot, but we also learned a lot from them! What a wonderful opportunity for us all!

That was the run-down of the program we tailored to these student’s timeframe and learning desires, but our wonderful Education and Outreach Specialist is more than happy to tailor a program to your school’s time-frame and learning interests. If you’d like us to visit your school, or if you have a classroom interested in visiting our facilities, or both – please contact her at bethany@emeraldcitypetrescue.org

Special thanks to everyone who helped with this program and took the time to meet with these awesome students! Thank you to our founder, Vivian Goldbloom, for encouraging the program. Thank you to our rescue coordinators, kennel attendants, clinic staff, and more, for meeting the students and discussing your jobs here at the rescue! Thank you to the Bush School for inviting us to be a part of your educational goals, and we hope to meet more of your awesome students next year!

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ECPR EVENTS – AUGUST 2018

Lucy Pet Products will have a rep in our store, Emerald City Pet Supplies, to introduce you to their products and answer any questions you may have.
August 16th + August 29th
3PM – 6PM @ Emerald City Pet Supplies

Join us at Starbucks Plaza on Friday, July 19th for the second Starbucks Pet Fair of the summer! Learn about our rescue and meet a few of our adoptable dogs, and visit other Seattle-based organizations as we come together to serve the animals of Seattle! Fun for everyone!August 16th + August 29th
11AM – 2PM

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